Charter schools are public-funded and independently run public schools that provide a genuine alternative to the typical dreary,  teacher-union debacle found in most big-city public school systems.

But do they make a difference in the academic performance of students? Well, in the District of Columbia, 38 percent of all public school students attend charters. Those charters have higher grades, higher attendance and higher graduation rates than regular DC public schools.

There are reasons for this performance differential. Check out this new video that explains those reasons: